of course, both measures became law. it was -- it led to a messy process on the hill, especially on health care. the president and the white house lost control of the message, spiralled out of control while congress dithered over the proposal for months. on this particular issue i think the president senses that, you know, there's really no room for him to negotiate with john boehner or mitch mcconnell. both men said we want this to happen to the regular order. they say, okay, we're going to let this happen through the regular congressional process and the president can intervene at key times in order to try to bridge that gap. you know, we'll see what happens because if you took a heavier hand, that could also backfire, too. because a lot of republicans don't really want to work with the president that closely. it's a difficult job managing congress, especially on an issue as tricky as this. >> well, speaking of messaging, here's what the president said when he was asked about why his budget, which is coming out two mon